Microsoft has taken the wraps off its latest and cheapest Xbox 360 console, dubbed the Arcade. The model replaces the Core edition, and is set to hit UK shops this week.
Arcade_Xbox
MS' Xbox 360 Arcade: driveless
The Arcade has an HDMI port and ships with one wireless controller and a 256MB memory card. It also comes with …

Tax!

Well, duh!

Of course the best way to work out a price is to simply apply the exchange rate. Because all national economies are exactly the same; people are paid the same, the cost of living is the same and any differences you may notice are purely down to your own overactive imaginations.

*Yawn*

US prices usually include a 90-day, not 1 year, warranty (how this applies to the 360 post "ring of death" I'm unsure of, as I thought they had a 3 year warranty for that issue alone).

Actual comparison?

£164.50.

So £35 more for possibly an implied warranty extension, and variations in local costs. And of course room for reseller discounts where applicable.

What I find more intriguing is the price <i>increase</i>. The Core was pitched directly against the Wii at £179 following recent price drops; the Arcade merely matches the Wii's inclusion of a Wireless controller and some memory for downloaded games/content (Wii has 512MB built in IIRC, still not enough for the vast range of titles available which cannot be played from SD card).

Now the Xbox is at the (presumably) £199 point and no longer competes directly. Seems like a needless stage in the reshuffle, I think think they need to align thus:

Memory?

Don't forget Customs duty and VAT on that

So, $280 plus postage to the UK - make that $320. Convert that to £, that's approx £160. Add 2.2% import duty (that's the rate for games consoles), that's now £163.52. Add 17.5% VAT on, now it's up to £192.14. Finally, add £10-£20 customs fee from the courier - and you're over the £200 list price.

Economies of Scale

You all seem to forget we live on a little island here in the UK, and the USA is a rather large continent with just a few more people over there than here, and the box they ship in the UK is slightly different (PAL, Region 2 and 240V) and thus although comes off the same production line, has different costs associated with it, which they pass onto us, the punters.

I agree it sucks - but the cost of consoles is small fry. Don't get me started on the cost of Cars in the UK vs USA.... (Care to compare the cost of a Chrysler 300C in the UK vs the USA...)

Chicago sales tax is 9.75%

@Ian

There is no 65nm GPU for the XBOX 360 yet.

All HDMI XBOX 360s are either 'Zephyr' motherboard (as first seen in the Elite) with 90nm CPU and GPU, or the 'Falcon' motherboard (with 65nm CPU and 90nm GPU, as seen in newer Elites and Premium/Pros, and most probably in the new Arcade).

Spending power

"You do realize that $1 has the same spending power in the US as £1 does in the UK. Your £50,000 job would only be making $50,000 in the US."

And why is that? One of the big reasons is the UK has a law preventing parallel importing (part of the copyright act), so companies can't import the US version of a product and neutralize the price difference like they use to be able to in the '80s.